A Fresh Breath of Life
by Shruthi T
Summary: A story about two broken individuals who find themselves drawn to one another from the moment they meet. AU Damon Salvatore and Elena Gilbert. Set in Mystic Falls. There are no vampires, witches, hybrids, werewolves, or any other supernatural beings. Rated M for safety.


AU story about Damon Salvatore and Elena Gilbert. There are no vampires, witches, werewolves, hybrids, etc., but the setting is still in Mystic Falls. I apologize in advance because this fanfic is the first fanfic I have EVER written. I appreciate constructive criticism of course, but please try and be nice too! I hope you guys like it. I don't own any of the characters in this story, nor do I own The Vampire Diaries, but I wish I did.

"Dad? DAD?!" Elena screamed.  
"We're gonna be okay. I promise. I'm gonna get you out of here, no matter what," said her father, Grayson, as calmly as he possibly could.  
"But you're going to come with me, right?" she cried.

"I don't think that's possible sweetheart," he managed to choke out, as the car proceeded to fill up with more water. It was only a matter of time before they all drowned.

"Then how are we going to get out of here?" she screamed, feeling the tears falling down her face, yet again.

"We're not, but you are," Grayson calmly repeat. He then proceeded to ram his skull and his arms against his window, with an immense amount of force. Eventually the window shattered and Grayson pushed Elena out through the limited amount of space available. He had already lost a lot of blood and he could feel his eyes shutting.

"Dad?! Stay with me, please!" she mouthed, but all Grayson did was lightly push her away, mouthing that he loved her while doing so. He finally gave in to the lack of oxygen and the result of injuring his head so badly while trying to save her life and slowly closed his eyes. He almost looked serene.

Elena began to mouth the words "come back, come back, come back, come back..."

And then she woke up saying those words for the 4th time that week, tears streaming down her face. It had only been 2 weeks since the car accident she and her mother and father had been and she still couldn't forget that she had been the only one to survive. Her father had promised that he would get her out of the car, bashing the car window on his side until he could push her through it. The last thing her father did was mouth the words "I love you," before he himself slowly started to close his eyes. Her mother's eyes were already closed, as though she was enjoying a peaceful slumber. The Mystic Falls police department had arrived just in time to save Elena and Elena alone. When she had woken up in the hospital, the doctors and the nurses had told her it was a miracle she had survived and if it weren't for her father bashing the window open, she also wouldn't be here today. As if this was some form of consolation or something to be happy about. No, Elena would rather have died that day. What was the point of living, when you had lost two of the most important people in your life?

Elena proceeded to wipe the tears off her face and checked the clock on her bedside table. 5:00 AM. Damn, she was hoping to sleep a little longer. Today was going to be one of the most difficult days of her life. It was the day of the funeral and she had to be strong. She had to show everyone that she was going to get through this. She didn't want anyone's favors nor did she want anyone's help. But most importantly, she had to show Aunt Jenna that she was going to get through this just fine, and that she would not only be able to take care of herself, but also be able to take care of Jeremy, her brother. She had to be brave. She had no other choice.

With that thought in mind, Elena forced herself to get out of bed and to look in the mirror. _Today will be different_, she thought. _It has to be. I will smile and it will make it believable. My smile will say, 'I'm fine. Thank you. Yes. Much better.' I will no longer be the girl who lost her parents. I will start fresh. Be someone new. It's the only way I'll make it through._Though she doubted how many people would believe her because she was going to her parents' funeral. But she had to try, right? She showered and got ready, putting on the black dress Aunt Jenna had kept out for her the night before. She tied her hair up in the best ponytail that she could make and then reached for the sparkling barrette her mother had bought her for her last birthday. It matched perfectly with he dress and Elena knew that by wearing it, she would always have a piece of her mother with her. Forcing herself to look in the mirror, Elena smiled as convincingly as she could and made her way downstairs. While heading downstairs, she heard the sound of Jeremy's alarm clock, followed by an extremely loud groan. Jenna was already downstairs, getting breakfast ready. She too was pretending to be perfectly fine, attempting to instill some normalcy into today's routine. Elena couldn't blame her for trying, as she was doing the same thing.

Elena sighed ever so slightly, and then walked over to Jenna. "Good morning, Jenna. Sleep well?" she asked.

Jenna replied, "I've slept better but it wasn't so bad. How about you?"

Hoping Jenna hadn't heard her crying while saying "come back" over and over again, Elena simply replied "I slept well enough."

Jenna gave her a small smile, handed her a piece of toast on a napkin, and then busied herself in the kitchen once more, hiding her face from Elena.

Sensing that Jenna didn't want to be around anyone at the time, Elena took the toast and walked back upstairs to check and see if Jeremy was okay. Hearing the showerhead turn on, Elena knew that he was and proceeded back to her room to gather her purse and the speech she was going to read at the funeral. Carefully, she opened her speech and quietly read it to herself. She had to be able to read it without crying at some point. She was not going to cry at the funeral. At least, not in front of anyone she knew. Elena heard the showerhead go off. Jeremy must have finished getting ready and Elena knew they were going to leave for the funeral in a couple minutes. She steadied herself, took a few long puffs of air, and headed back downstairs. Jeremy came rushing down two minutes later. Jenna had finally finished whatever she had wanted to do in the kitchen and with a short nod toward the both of them, all of them headed out the door.

Elena was right. Everyone at the funeral was coming up to her, expecting her to fall to the ground and cry. No one expected her to be "fine" or "okay," nor would anyone let her go without pulling her in for a hug and holding her hand repeating the words "I am so sorry" over and over again. This was most definitely one of the worst days of her life and to make things even better, she had to give her speech in 5 minutes, in front of a huge group of people, people who fully expected her to have an emotional breakdown. While she understood their concern for her, why couldn't they also understand that she didn't want their concern? _I am not weak_, she thought to herself. _I am better than that. I have to be strong for Jeremy and for Jenna._

After she had repeated those same sentences to herself multiple times, Jenna came to the podium and called Elena up to say her speech. Taking a couple of deep breaths, Elena came up to the podium, slowly unfolded the paper her speech was written on, and looked up at all of the faces around her. Almost her entire town was there, including some additional faces. She assumed the new faces she saw were people new to Mystic Falls. _Some welcome_, she thought. Because of how closely knit the Mystic Falls community was, everyone was invited to everything, including more upsetting events such as her parents' funeral. Taking another deep breath, Elena began to read.

"On May 23rd , only two weeks prior to today, two of the people that I love more than anything in my life passed away. And there was nothing I could do about it. Absolutely nothing. I felt so weak and powerless, wanting to be able to save both my mother and father, but in the end, the only one that survived was me. For the past two weeks, I've been thinking to myself. _Why did I survive? Why me? What not my parents? Is there even a point to me surviving if my parents didn't as well?_ And for a while, I couldn't come up with an answer to my own questions. All I felt was this feeling of grief that had begun to consume me entirely. But last night, as I was revising this speech, I realized that there is always a point to surviving: cherishing the memories you had and never letting them go away. In my mind, my parents didn't die that night. They're still here, and they're with me right now. The only reason I am here today is because of my father's selflessness. He wanted me to survive and what a waste it would be if I threw the life away that my parents so willingly gave to me. I have to be strong, for their sake, and for my family's sake. It's the right thing to do and I know that if my parents were here today, they would agree with everything I am saying to you right now. When my dad used every ounce of remaining strength he had to save me, I knew he was doing it because he loved me. And because I love him and I love my mother, I have to be brave. I have to be strong. And I have to be a fighter, no matter how hard things are. I want to thank you all for being here on such a sad occasion, and I hope you all will join me in cherishing every memory you ever had with my parents. Thank you."

Elena internally sighed, while trying to keep the lump in her throat from making her cry. She wasn't going to cry, not after the kind of speech she had just given. She saw Liz Forbes, Caroline's mother, mopping her eyes while Carol Lockwood wept silently in the corner. Caroline and Bonnie were both hugging one another, crying silently. Matt Donovan, her very recent ex.-boyfriend, looked at her briefly before looking back down. All that mattered was that she had done it. She had made it through the funeral and the only thing she wanted more than anything was to go home and cry for hours while screaming into her pillow. But she couldn't let anyone know she felt that way. She had to be strong for them.

As the funeral procession came to an end, Jenna once again came up to the podium, and thanked everyone who attended the funeral for being there. After Jenna said a few more words about her appreciation for the sympathy the Mystic Falls community had given her family, the funeral was officially over. Everyone gathered their things, came over to Elena, Jeremy, and Jenna and gave them their condolences once more before leaving. When almost everyone had left the funeral, Jenna fumbled for her car keys.

"Okay, I'm gonna head back home for a bit. I'll be back in a little while to help clean up. You guys want to come home and change?" Jenna asked.

Jeremy replied, in a flat tone, "Yeah I'll come along. I need a break from… This."  
Jenna gave Jeremy the most sympathetic look she could muster, and then turned to Elena. "What about you, Elena? You wanna come home and rest for a bit, before come back to clean up?"  
Seeing as all Elena wanted to do was take out her anger and pain out on someone or something, she replied "No, it's okay Jenna. I think I'm gonna to stick around for a while. Fresh air helps me clear my mind and fresh air is exactly what I need right now."

Jenna gave Elena a little smile, hugged her, and promised that she'd be back in exactly an hour. She then walked to the car, with Jeremy in tow.

Elena began to walk away from their retreating figures, slowly making her way around the park in Mystic Falls Jenna had chosen for the funeral. It was very peaceful and Elena understood why Jenna chose such a place. It's what her mother and father would have wanted; a quiet place for all the people that they loved to be at with them. Elena felt the knot in her throat tighten more and more. She knew it was only a matter of time before she burst into tears and the only thing that she was happy about was that no one was around to see her at her lowest point. As if her body couldn't take it anymore, Elena fell to her knees, while clutching her stomach and burst into tears. Every single emotion she had felt for the past two weeks came crashing down on her, threatening to destroy every single positive emotion she had left. The grief hit her in waves and for almost 20 minutes, she sat there on her knees crying. It felt like she cried for an hour and every attempt she made to stop crying only made it worse. She closed her eyes and tried to take deep breaths, hoping they would calm her down as they had for the past two weeks, but nothing worked. She was vaguely aware of two strong, firm hands lightly gripping her arms and slowly pulling her up into his or her arms. _It must be Jeremy_, she thought. _He must have come back. He must have known I was going to break down._ Yet something felt foreign about the way this person was holding her. She felt more protected, as if the person already understood the emotions she was feeling merely by holding her in his or her arms. When she managed to control her sobbing, and began to sniffle instead, she dared to open her eyes and take a peak at who it was that was holding her. What she saw took her completely by surprise. She saw the most beautiful man she had ever seen, with beautiful blue piercing eyes, and black hair. His complexion made him stand out in the sunlight and he was wearing a tight black suit. She had never seen this man before in her life. All she knew was that he had held her in his arms for as long as she needed him to, and he already understood the pain she felt and would always feel.

The mysterious man then took out the handkerchief in his shirt pocket, and lightly wiped the tears from her face, making her feel almost giddy inside. She immediately felt silly for even thinking in such a way but the way the man was looking at her while gently wiping her face made her feel so safe and at home. He then folded the handkerchief, placed it back in his pocket and without asking her to explain, calmly said the words "I get it. I understand." He then tucked a stray strand of her that had fallen onto her cheek, gave her a half smile, and walked away, leaving her completely breathless. Elena stared at his figure as he walked away and wondered how this one man, whom she had never met before in her life, made her feel more… alive than anyone else had managed to in the past two weeks. Eventually, she realized that Jeremy and Jenna would be back soon and she had to be ready for them in order to help clean up the funeral area, temporarily snapping her thoughts back into reality. Elena didn't know it yet, but this was just the beginning.


End file.
